Lawrence woman’s identity stolen, IRS receives forged tax return form in her name

Lawrence resident Nancy Hause was suspicious when she received a letter purporting to be from the Internal Revenue Service’s “Identity Verification Service” asking for more personal information to process her 2014 tax return.

The letter, dated April 14, requested that Hause visit a website or call an IRS telephone number to provide additional personal information “to verify (her) identity (so) the IRS (could) continue processing (her) tax return.”

The thing is, Hause had gotten an extension from the IRS and hadn’t yet filed her tax return, she said. After hearing reports and stories of scam emails and phone calls from con artists seeking social security numbers, she was apprehensive to comply.

“The whole thing just didn’t make sense,” Hause said. “The kicker was when it was talking about how they received my federal income tax return.”

As it turns out, the letter was real. But Hause’s instincts were still correct in that she may be a victim of a crime. According to a news release from the IRS, the government agency sends letters to taxpayers when the IRS “stops suspicious tax returns that have indications of being identity theft but contains a real taxpayer’s name and/or Social Security number.”

Real letters will indicate in the upper corner of the page that it is a Letter 5071C, and it instructs the taxpayer to either visit the IRS secure website, idverify.irs.gov, or call 1-800-830-5084, a toll-free IRS telephone number. Only those who receive the letters are able to use the website.

If a taxpayer receives this letter, they should visit the website or call the phone number and they will be asked “a series of questions that only the real taxpayer can answer,” according to the news release.

After the taxpayer answers the questions and validates their identity, they are asked to confirm whether or not they did, in fact, file the tax return at issue. If the taxpayer confirms that he or she did, the IRS will continue processing the return, the news release said. If not, like Hause, the taxpayer should indicate that they did not file the return and the IRS will reject the return.

Hause said she plans to contact the IRS to explain she didn’t file the tax return form in question.

IRS spokesman Michael Devine said that these steps are taken because identity theft “remains a top priority” for the government agency. Devine said that the IRS “is focused on preventing, detecting and resolving identity theft cases” as early as possible.

“Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes nationwide, and refund fraud caused by identity theft is one of the biggest challenges facing the IRS,” Devine said.

The IRS takes identity theft cases seriously because the crime not only affects victims, but many agencies as well, according to the IRS website.

“Identity theft places a burden on its victims and presents a challenge to businesses, organizations and government agencies, including the IRS,” the webpage said. “Tax-related identity theft occurs when someone uses your stolen social security number to file a tax return claiming a fraudulent refund.”

To combat identity theft, Devine said the IRS has more than 3,000 employees who focus on identity theft cases and has trained more than 35,000 employees working with taxpayers to “recognize and provide assistance when identity theft occurs.”

Once reported, the IRS is often successful in bringing the alleged identity stealers to justice. According to the IRS’s Criminal Investigation annual report published April 7, the IRS investigated 1063 identity theft cases in fiscal year 2014. Those 1063 investigations ended with 970 being recommended for prosecution. Of those 970, 896 resulted in federal indictments or charges, according to the report.

The report said many identity thefts are caused by data breaches in technology services. The IRS suggests securing your social security card your home, not giving your SSN to businesses or others “just because they ask,” protecting your financial information and using firewalls and antivirus software on your personal computers.

While the 5071C letter is real, Devine said taxpayers should continue to be alert to other messages that could be fraudulent. According to the IRS, there are several warning signs that a communication is fraudulent. A few signs, listed below, are indicators of fraud, according to a March IRS news release, because the IRS will never:

  • Call to demand immediate payment.
  • Call or email about taxes owed without first mailing a bill.
  • Demand you to pay taxes without offering an opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.
  • Require that you use a specific payment method, such as a mail-order check or prepaid debit card, to pay your taxes.
  • Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
  • Threaten to send local police or other law enforcement to arrest to for failure to pay.

The news release said if you receive a phone call from an individual claiming to be from the IRS asking you to send them money, take one of the following actions, depending on your situation:

  • If you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 and IRS employees can help you through a payment issue.